Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) On Trump Assassination Attempt, Looming Government Shutdown, And Springfield Tensions; Best Comedy Emmy Goes To "Hacks"; FBI Investigating Apparent Second Assassination Attempt On Trump. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired September 16, 2024 - 07:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[07:30:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Do you see this as a Secret Service failure because we know that there are new questions being raised?

REP. TOM EMMER (R-MN): That's jumping way too far ahead in my mind. It's a fair question but we just don't have enough facts yet. We don't know how he got there. We know he drove there but where from? And was this planned? There's a whole bunch of facts that have to come out.

I know that the committee that has been assembled by our speaker to investigate the Pennsylvania assassination attempt back in July -- they are getting prepared to get a briefing as to what happened and I think you'll get more facts, and so will I, over the next couple of days.

BOLDUAN: Let's talk about -- you're headed back to Washington, and you need to figure out -- you all need to figure -- you personally and everybody -- and all of you need to figure out how to keep the government funded, how to keep the government from shutting down.

The funding runs out at the end of the month. To bring everybody up to speed if you haven't been tracking it, the bill that House Republicans have put forward -- the scheduled vote was pulled because you didn't have the votes. You are the vote-counter for the House majority.

Do you think you have any chance, Congressman, of passing the bill that Republicans have put forth with only Republicans' votes?

EMMER: Well, yes, I do. Now, we -- is it going to be easy? Absolutely not. This is a call that our speaker made. There are different objections -- the length of it, the three months versus six months. This one is six months.

And there's also apparently an objection on the other side to the Save Act, a bill that 87 percent of Americans agree with. It would simply provide that only American citizens can be voting in our elections, and it would provide for cleaning up some of our voter rolls.

BOLDUAN: But it already -- it's already illegal -- it's already illegal for non-citizens to vote in federal elections. This is dead on arrival in the Senate. You still think that Republicans are going to continue with this?

EMMER: Well, let's go back. You said this is already illegal.

BOLDUAN: It is.

EMMER: In other words, it's already the law. Then, Kate, tell me why they won't vote for it.

BOLDUAN: But why put a -- why put a -- why put a policy --

EMMER: Again --

BOLDUAN: -- change in --

EMMER: Again --

BOLDUAN: -- a government funding bill?

EMMER: Humor us. Humor us. If you think is just redundant, so be it. We do not think it's redundant. The American people agree with us. And the fact that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle would say a law that actually clarifies only U.S. citizens are allowed to vote in U.S. elections -- calling that a poison pill I think tells the American public everything they need to know.

BOLDUAN: But here's the thing. So you can put -- you could -- if you had the votes, you could put -- you could pass it and send it over to the Senate with Republican votes. So far, you don't have the votes.

When you have a thin majority, as thin a majority as you do, that means you have to put forth measures that both sides are actually going to agree to. That would now, here, include not this. It's not going to go anywhere in the Senate, yet again, and you guys are running out of time.

EMMER: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: Is this -- this is your opening negotiating position. Do you acknowledge it is not going to stay here?

EMMER: Look, the speaker made this call. We're going to try and pass this bill. I do think Democrats should be voting for the bill. They want to fund the government just like we do.

All we're asking for, or all our speaker is asking for is let's put the Save Act in it. It doesn't matter if you think this is already the law. Humor us. Vote for it. We want to ensure that only U.S. citizens are voting in our elections.

I think our colleagues on the other side of the aisle should be for that, too. So we get the votes on our side, we should have Republicans and Democrats voting for this bill.

BOLDUAN: This week is going to be critical on that, so we'll see where that goes. You are a central figure in figuring this all out. I do also want to get your take -- is you've been around politics for a long time. And J.D. Vance was on CNN yesterday and he is sticking by the now debunked claims by local officials that he and Donald Trump have spread suggesting that Haitian migrants are eating pets in Ohio.

Let me play what happened yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), U.S. VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes. If I have to -- if I have to --

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: But it wasn't just the memes, sir.

VANCE: -- create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that what's I'm going to do, Dana.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: When called out for saying that he's creating a story here, J.D. Vance tried to clean it up.

But the Republican governor, just yesterday, from Ohio -- he called this continued talk about it and this storyline disgusting. He said, "A piece of garbage."

Does this continued focus and digging in by your candidates create a problem for you guys down-ballot?

EMMER: Well, this story is actually about a program -- an illegal program, I would suggest, created by --

BOLDUAN: It's technically legal.

EMMER: -- Kamala Harris --

BOLDUAN: It is technically legal.

EMMER: -- and Joe Biden. Well, you can say technical.

BOLDUAN: But, you know, OK.

EMMER: It's been paused because of all kinds of fraud. And listen, Kate, if you don't want to talk about --

BOLDUAN: No, no, no.

EMMER: -- the Cuba-Haitian-Nicaraguan-Venezuelan program that was created by Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, which brought tens of thousands of migrants --

[07:35:00]

BOLDUAN: You can -- EMMER: -- to this country --

BOLDUAN: You can talk about this policy without creating stories. The governor of the state of Ohio --

EMMER: You can.

BOLDUAN: -- calls it a piece of garbage.

There are two colleges that are shut down going -- they're going remote today because of concerns over the environment it has created around this.

Does a digging in on the incorrect, not misinformation, story create a problem for you guys down-ballot? There is nothing wrong, as we've seen in recent politics, Congressman, saying I made a mistake or I have an evolving position, truly. But digging in on this when it's, like, transparently seems no one locally wants this to continue seems a problem for you guys.

EMMER: What's a problem is the mainstream media refuses to report --

BOLDUAN: No, no, no, no, no, no.

EMMER: -- what caused this problem. You've had thousands of people dropped in this country. By the way, you say it's technically legal. Then why did they pause it? Because they had so much fraud in the program.

The American people need to know --

BOLDUAN: But Congressman --

EMMER: -- that what the Biden-Harris administration did.

BOLDUAN: -- you and I have talked -- you come on all the time and we talk --

EMMER: Well, here, just let me finish, Kate.

BOLDUAN: But you and I -- we talk policy --

EMMER: OK.

BOLDUAN: -- all the time. We sit down and -- but, like --

EMMER: I'd like to.

BOLDUAN: -- but this -- but this one -- then get past the wrong and then move on to the policy.

EMMER: How about talk about the wrong? The wrong is that we've got an administration that is lawless, and they allowed migrants from these different countries to come into this country, and they flew them into places like Ohio --

BOLDUAN: So --

EMMER: -- and Minnesota, and California --

BOLDUAN: If this story of eating --

EMMER: -- and (INAUDIBLE).

BOLDUAN: -- pets is completely factually wrong and is not true, you are OK with the story continuing, and your candidate continue to talk about it?

EMMER: I hope you start reporting on the problem that causes all of this, which is an administration -- Kamala Harris is responsible for allowing thousands of migrants --

BOLDUAN: I --

EMMER: -- here improperly because they lied on their applications.

BOLDUAN: I take your hope, but will you answer that a yes or no?

EMMER: Do you realize -- do you realize a thousand of these applications --

BOLDUAN: I take your hope when you want to talk about --

EMMER: -- had 24 -- 24 phone numbers of dead people.

BOLDUAN: Congressman, the inability to answer yes or no on the simple question kind of takes away the heft of wanting to talk about the policy.

EMMER: Well, I'd love it if you would talk about the actual policy created by the Biden administration.

BOLDUAN: I absolutely will once you get -- once you answer the yes or no.

EMMER: Again, you need to start reporting --

BOLDUAN: OK.

EMMER: -- on what caused this problem.

BOLDUAN: We are. Thank you.

EMMER: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: This morning sources tell CNN that golf courses and, in particular, Donald Trump's own golf courses, have been difficult for the Secret Service to secure. While security around the former president increased after the first attempt on his life in July, the enhanced detail wasn't able to prevent another apparent would-be assassin from coming with 500 yards of him. CNN senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak joins us now. Kevin, this has been a concern for a while as I understand it.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, this has been something that we have been hearing about for years, particularly when it comes to Donald Trump and his golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida. And when you look at the incident that unfolded yesterday you do get a sense of the challenges that the Secret Service has faced in securing this facility for the president, now the former president, for the last eight years or so.

For one, it's bounded by three major roads. The roads aren't shut down when the president is on the course. They aren't shut down to traffic and they aren't shut down to pedestrians. It's also close to a major airport. And, of course, the course is also semi-public. When the president is there, it's not closed down to other members or guests who might be playing a round.

So, certainly, the Secret Service has always viewed this as something of a porous environment. Now, when Trump was still president there was a more robust security perimeter that was established around the course. After he left office some of that was diminished somewhat. So pedestrians could access the perimeter of the course, including the would-be assassin who essentially crawled through the bushes to -- where he could see Trump on the green.

And we did hear a little bit more about this from the Palm Beach County sheriff yesterday describing some of the issues at hand. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF RIC BRADSHAW, PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA: You've got to understand the golf course is surrounded by shrubbery. So when somebody gets into the shrubbery they're pretty much out of sight, all right?

And at this level that he is at right now he's not the sitting president. If he was, we would have had the entire golf course surrounded. But because he's not the security is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible. So I would imagine that the next time he comes to the golf course there will probably be a little more people around the perimeter.

But the Secret Service did exactly what they should have done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: So, of course, President Trump is not the first president or former president to enjoy a round of golf. And this will certainly remain a challenge for the Secret Service in the weeks ahead.

SIDNER: All right, Kevin Liptak. Thank you so much for your reporting.

And John, you are going to talk through what actually happened here, and this is really good math to give people an idea of just how big this area is.

[07:40:03]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah. With us now is Andrew McCabe, CNN senior law enforcement analyst and former deputy director of the FBI.

And Andy, this is the fifth hole right here. Donald Trump was walking up to putt on the fifth hole. It's a par three, 228 yards. But you can see here this is Summit Boulevard and right here is South Congress. Anyone who has driven around Palm Beach, you're on South Congress all the time -- all the time, and it's right next to the green of the fifth hole here.

What kind of challenge does securing a place like this pose to the Secret Service, Andy?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST, FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR, FBI (via Webex by Cisco): Yeah, John, massive challenges for the reasons that you've just highlighted on the map. There are broad, broad spaces of unsecured land there. And because of the way the course is laid out -- and you'd have a similar situation at any golf course -- the president is going to be very, very close to that fence line dividing -- you know, dividing the property from golf course to publicly accessible area at numerous times.

You can see that if he is -- if he -- we know that he was putting. He was finishing up on the fifth hole, which means that the Secret Service detail was likely at or near the green on the sixth hole because they stay one hole ahead of him clearing the area.

And it is in that transition from where the sixth hole ends to where the tee boxes are for the seventh hole, which is basically at the very bottom of that map that you're showing right now. That is likely where this shooter decided to set up because those tee boxes are so close to the fence line it would provide a pretty good -- a pretty good line of sight. And also, think about it. The tee box is a place where, as a shooter, you could be pretty confident that your target is going to be confined to a pretty small area and also standing still for some period of time.

So those are the sorts of -- those are the ways that snipers think about acquiring a target. And in a place like a golf course you're going to have numerous opportunities for those sorts of lines of sight and moments of vulnerability.

BERMAN: And this is what we know was left behind by the would-be shooter. This is a -- it's a little grainy so it's hard to tell, but backpacks, right? Backpacks, maybe a GoPro camera there.

What does this tell you -- and this is the rifle. What does this tell you about the mindset of the person who did this, or tried to?

MCCABE: So it tells you John that this is someone who really thought through this plan with some degree of rigor and discipline. Now, you know, a lot of people will say oh, it was a crazy plan. It would never work. Nevertheless, this is someone who thought through it. He armed himself not only with the rifle but with protective implements that he thought would give him a better chance to get his shot off before he started taking fire.

There were ceramic plates. They've been described as ceramic tiles but not exactly the same thing. Ceramic plates that are designed to stop rifle fire, specifically, from impacting you when you're -- when you're deployed with a Kevlar vest or something like that. And he's got those hanging from the shooting position there right near the fence.

He's got the GoPro stuck to the fence in an effort to memorialize what he's doing, which we know from so many mass shootings is very important to many of these folks.

So, yeah, he's thought through this. He was probably there for some period of time -- enough time to enable him to hang that stuff where he wanted to place it, and literally lying in wait for his target who, in this case, was a former President of the United States.

It's really shocking and really should cause a lot of people -- most importantly, the Secret Service -- to really rethink how they're thinking about the threats that are posed to the president these days -- former president.

BERMAN: All right, Andy McCabe for us. Thanks so much for helping us understand what we're seeing there -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: So it was a huge night of smashing records in the WNBA. Caitlin Clark grabbing more rookie titles and A'ja Wilson's incredible feat. We've got more much on this ahead.

And a memorable night for the Emmys as well. A record-breaking 18 wins for one new show, and many emotional moments on stage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD GADD, CREATOR AND STAR, "BABY REINDEER": I don't know much about this life -- why we're here -- none of that. But I do know that nothing lasts forever and no matter how bad it gets, it always gets better. Yeah -- so if you're struggling, keep going, keep going, and I promise you things will be OK. Thank you so much for this award.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:48:57]

BOLDUAN: Let's start the week off right with mixing some sports metaphors.

The Cincinnati Bengals had the Kansas City Chiefs on the ropes last night. But wait -- there is more. A heart-pounding comeback.

CNN's Carolyn Manno is laughing at my idiotic jokes and is here with me. CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: I just like the -- I like the -- you know, the hip -- the hip moves.

BOLDUAN: Yeah --

MANNO: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: -- it's the physicality of it that really sells it.

MANNO: Yeah. That's good.

BOLDUAN: I love it.

MANNO: A couple of mixed metaphors, maybe a sports adage if we're going down this road. It's not about how you start, it's about how you finish. Nobody knows that better than the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs. Kansas City actually struggled early against the Bengals on Sunday, even with Taylor Swift in attendance.

Quarterback Patrick Mahomes overcoming a pair of interceptions in this game, coming through with the game on the line though leading his team downfield in the final minute. A fourth down pass interference call on Cincinnati with 38 seconds left. Keeping this drive alive, he sets up Harrison Butker in range for a 51-yard field goal. And he drilled it as time expires giving Kansas City the 26-25 walk-off win.

[07:50:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICK MAHOMES, QUARTERBACK, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS: Obviously, we made too many mistakes today. Our defense picked us up there in the fourth quarter and then we got it to Harrison, man, and he knocks it through. So we've got a lot to learn from, but I'm glad we got a win and we're going to learn from it that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Amazing. OK, so that's amazing. Congrats to all involved.

Now let's go to -- let's talk basketball now.

MANNO: Yes. I know you're excited about this.

BOLDUAN: It was like record after record broken at the WNBA.

MANNO: Women are showing up and they are showing out. It's been so good.

Caitlin Clark just adding to his historic rookie campaign over the weekend. Put up 35 on Sunday against Dallas, setting the WNBA rookie single season scoring record. Clark already held the rookie records for assists and made threes, and now she has 761 points through 39 games -- the best in the previous mark of 744. That was set by Seimone Augustus in 2006. The season was 34 games at that time.

But with the win, the Fever now heading into the playoffs for the first time since 2016. The Fever earning a six seed.

The only team they haven't beaten this season are the two-time defending champs, the Las Vegas Aces. That squad led by A'ja Wilson. She is setting records of her own. On Sunday, she became the first player in league history to score 1,000 points in a single season. She needed 29 to hit the mark and she got there with a mid-range jumper late in the fourth quarter.

Her teammates ready to celebrate her. The crowd went nuts. The MVP favorite finishing with 29 points, nine boards, three assists, and two blocks.

The Aces won for the seventh time in eight games.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

A'JA WILSON, CENTER, LAS VEGAS ACES: I hope you all know how much I love you all -- each and every last one of you all (crying). You all will never understand how much you all mean to me because there's days where I hate being A'ja Wilson. I hate it. But when I come into work and I see you all smiling and I see you all just happy, it makes me who I am.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: She is such a leader. She has been so efficient this season. And it is a heavy burden to carry. And she's averaging 27 points per game for the season. But she is steering them right towards the playoffs. Incredible what she's done this season.

BOLDUAN: Incredible and just -- that was -- that was just beautiful. Like, the love of the team is everything.

MANNO: Oh, yeah. They love her.

BOLDUAN: It's good to see you, Carolyn.

MANNO: You, too.

BOLDUAN: Thank you so much -- John.

BERMAN: All right. Jackson Five founding member Tito Jackson has passed away. It was Tito, along with Jermaine, Marlon, Jackie, and, of course, Michael that recorded hits including "ABC" and "I'll Be There." Tito Jackson was 70 years old.

Today the U.S. Coast Guard starts a two-week hearing on the Titan submersible that imploded last year as it headed toward to the Titanic wreckage site. Five people were killed on board. Investigators are trying to determine if there was any negligence or misconduct by OceanGate, the company responsible for the submersible.

And an historic night at the Emmys. "SHOGUN" won a record 18 awards including Best Drama. It is the first non-English language series to win that. Hiroyuki Sanada was the first Japanese actor to win Lead Actor Emmy. And his co-star, Anna Sawai, won as well. The biggest surprise of the night, Best Comedy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And the award goes to -- the Emmy goes to "HACKS."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The HBO-Max show "HACKS" upset "THE BEAR," which had won previously, which really isn't a comedy, but "HACKS" is -- and it is wonderful. And lead actress Jean Smart, who was so good, added another Emmy to her collection for Lead Actress In A Comedy -- Sara.

SIDNER: I love "HACKS." It's so good.

All right. There are just 50 days left in the presidential election season that's already unlike any other that we have seen. The latest, an apparent second assassination attempt on former president and current Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump who just before that happened seemed to start a battle with one of the biggest pop stars on the planet.

I am joined now by Democratic strategist and co-founder of Lift Your Voices, Julie Roginsky. And political strategist and former RNC spokesperson, Madison Gesiotto. Thank you so much, both of you, for being here.

First to you, you know, Julie. How do you think the second attempt on the president's life will impact the campaigning going forward and the campaign as a whole?

JULIE ROGINSKY, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST, CO-FOUNDER, LIFT YOUR VOICES: Well, first of all, it's very sad and I'm glad the former president is OK.

But I don't think it's going to impact it that much. I think the president -- the former president is going to continue on his message, whatever that message is, and I don't think he's going to make a big deal of out of this because he can't stay on message long enough to make a big deal out of anything.

And I think Kamala Harris will continue on her message.

So, you know, much like the previous attempt on his life -- which, again, I'm very glad he's OK -- but did not really alter the trajectory of this campaign, and I'm not so sure this one will either.

SIDNER: Ms. Gesiotto, do you -- do you share those same sentiments? What do you -- what do you make of it?

MADISON GESIOTTO, POLITICAL STRATEGIST, FORMER RNC SPOKESPERSON (via Skype): Yeah. I mean, I don't think we have many days left. I think it's promising to see the bipartisanship coming out of Washington on that first attempt on President Trump's life, and I'm sure we'll continue to see that on the second one. I think a lot of people across the country have had their confidence in the system shaken by seeing this happen, and I think they're concerned about it.

[07:55:00]

We want answers as to how these things could happen to a former president or anybody running for President of the United States, of course. And so I think there's a lot of questions on that front.

But when it comes to the issues that matter to the people, especially those people that are undecided in states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, I think we're going to continue to hear people, especially President Trump and his campaign, hopefully, talking about the economy, talking about immigration in Pennsylvania, of course, specifically. Talking about fracking.

And I think those are the messages that need to come out of the Republican side in order to get across the finish line with wins not only for the president but also in down-ballot races and many important, of course, Senate races and House races across the country right now.

SIDNER: You mentioned immigration and it is probably the second highest that we've seen in polling concern of voters when they are asked.

J.D. Vance doubled down on the now debunked claims about migrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. And he made quite the admission to our Dana Bash who pressed him on his accusations after the local officials there said there were no reports or any evidence of such a thing happening in their town -- listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANCE: The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes. If I have to --

BASH: But it wasn't just a meme, sir.

VANCE: -- create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that's what I'm going to do, Dana.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: "If I have to create stories." How does a candidate justify this, Madison?

GESIOTTO: Well, I think on one front he did also talk about how he, as a senator, had received calls from his constituents in that area that we're concerned and saying that this was happening. So he wanted to obviously address that.

However, when you saw many Republicans pushing around the video from my hometown of Canton, Ohio, right here -- that clearly wasn't in Springfield, three hours away -- it wasn't a Haitian migrant eating a cat. From what I understand, it was a woman who was on drugs who ate a cat. Absolutely horrible nonetheless, but I had a problem with that and so I continue to --

SIDNER: She was a resident of Canton. She was not a Haitian migrant, right. She was a resident.

GESIOTTO: Exactly. She was not -- she was not an illegal.

SIDNER: Right.

GESIOTTO: She wasn't a Haitian migrant. She was something that lived right here. And so I think it was pretty easy to do a Google search and find that this happened weeks ago and they had released the bodycam footage. I mean, it was in The Canton Repository, and it was in other outlets. And so I was little frustrated with that.

SIDNER: Why do you think he's doing it? Why does he keep doing that?

GESIOTTO: As a Republican myself -- because I think -- I think it detracts from the ability to talk about the issues that matter, again, when we are in a tight election. Maybe it won't be so tight here in Ohio, but it will be tight in neighboring Michigan. It will be tight in neighboring Pennsylvania.

And when you come here to Ohio there are people in Springfield that are very concerned about what's going on, and I think that's what we should be focused on the most. I think now, at this point, especially as we continue to talk about these videos or talk about the cats and the dogs, it's taking way from the fact that we can be talking about Springfield and what people are concerned about.

Many of these people actually have a lot of compassion for the Haitian migrants. They really care about them. But they're concerned about how their city has been completely overwhelmed by almost 20,000 Haitian refugees being brought in by the Biden-Harris administration in a change of immigration policy in which not only did they bring them there and give them that temporary status but then they went on to allow up to six family members to come as well. This is a very small town.

So now we're seeing the schools overwhelmed. You know, just last year after they started bringing these people in there was only 151 Haitian Creole students in Springfield schools. Now we saw almost 600.

When you talk about how expensive that is for the state and local governments when it comes to translators paid for -- very, very expensive. These translators, of course, very hard to find as well.

On top of that, the health care system has been overwhelmed. Over 6,000 people now receiving that are non-citizens receiving Medicaid. And then, of course, 4,300 people receiving federal assistance on top of it in a town where people need help that are Americans to begin with.

So I think people are very frustrated about what's going on and I think they want that addressed more than anything here in Ohio.

SIDNER: And according to the governor -- I mean, this is making things worse. J.D. Vance and vice -- and president -- former President Trump are making things worse.

Can this hurt them? You know, sort of, in the down-ballots we had -- we had Kate Bolduan asking Tom Emmer the very thing. He would not answer the question. But do you see this hurting them because you just heard Madison there say this is taking away from the actual issues that people are concerned about when it comes to immigration.

ROGINSKY: Well, first of all, it's disgusting because here is J.D. Vance who represents Ohio literally inviting attacks on the town that he represents. They've shut down -- I mean, there have been attacks on the schools, attacks on the hospitals. There --

SIDNER: There have been phone calls of bomb threats.

ROGINSKY: Phone calls. I mean, effect -- right -- effectively shutting this town down because of a fake meme that he admitted he had to help create.

And so as a result of all this what kind of representative is he for the state of Ohio and what kind of representative will he be for the United States of America when he has no problem sending death threats to his own constituents in order to score political points? It's disgusting.

SIDNER: All right.

Julie Roginsky, thank you so much, as well as Madison Gesiotto. Thank you -- appreciate it -- John.

BERMAN: All right. We have new reporting this morning that Washington and Seoul are discussing a new cost-sharing agreement for U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.

Let's get right to CNN's national security correspondent Kylie Atwood. So what are these discussions, and what's the urgency, Kylie?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well listen, John, the current agreement doesn't actually expire until the end of 2025. That is more than a year from year. And this is a cost-sharing agreement for about 28,000 U.S. troops that are stationed in South Korea.